Houdini!

<v WHA-TV Speaker>Presentation of Houdini is made possible in part by the Oscar J Boldt construction <v WHA-TV Speaker>company, providing general construction machinery, installation and construction <v WHA-TV Speaker>management services throughout the nation. <v Presenter>Ladies and gentlemen, presenting for your entertainment <v Presenter>and amazement, the king of handcuffs, the master of manacles, <v Presenter>Harry Houdini! <v Presenter>So stay right where you are for the final story. <v Presenter>The incredible story of a man who made the impossible possible. <v Narrator>He was a man who became a legend by breaking loose from locks. <v Narrator>He was the man who could slip any earthly bond. <v Narrator>60 years after the magician's death, "To pull a Houdini" is still an expression

<v Narrator>that is part of our parlance. It still stands for something magical, something altogether <v Narrator>amazing. <v Narrator>Of his contemporaries, perhaps only Charlie Chaplin has had the staying power <v Narrator>of this entertainer, this escape artist who picked the medium of handcuffs and manacles <v Narrator>and got a lock on the public's imagination. [Audience cheers] <v Doug Henning>Thank you, I like to thank you for being so patient, this is a great honor for me to be <v Doug Henning>here today. This is where Houdini was born, right over there. <v Doug Henning>They just-pass the second light post, now-[Speech continues in the background] <v Narrator>It's a lock that still holds tight today. <v Narrator>In spring of '86, Doug Henning, one of the country's top magicians, made a stop <v Narrator>in Appleton, Wisconsin, the city that Houdini always claimed is his birthplace, <v Narrator>a sort of pilgrimage to pay homage to the old master on his birthday. <v Doug Henning>Houdini was my inspiration for my life when I was about seven. <v Narrator>Henning's tribute was one of Houdini's favorite bits of magic, [Henning says, "he was

<v Narrator>born in-"] Metamorphosis, the Trunk Trick. <v Doug Henning>Now, this illusion was first performed by Houdini around 1898. <v Doug Henning>It amazed people then, in fact, when Arthur Conan Doyle saw Houdini do this, He <v Doug Henning>actually thought the magician dematerialize, then passed right through solid. <v Doug Henning>It's the fastest delusion in the world and when we have a little music. <v Doug Henning>It's called metamorphosis. <v Doug Henning>[Music played] <v Doug Henning>Handcuffs, two chains are on each one of Debbie's wrists, lock with a padlocks, now <v Doug Henning>Houdini needs to do this, it took him about 20 seconds to do. <v Doug Henning>But today is a little more modern times and things are faster. <v Doug Henning>We're going to do it in the third of a second. Good, now down Debbie goes <v Doug Henning>inside the sudden sack. Good, help me throw on the top, put the line all the way around. <v Doug Henning>Now, don't blink your eyes, you'll miss, metamorphosis 1, 2, [Assistant says, "3!"]. <v Narrator>Magic, the delight comes from seeing reality, probability

<v Narrator>demolished. <v Narrator>Yet magic is, above all, showmanship that extra kick. <v Narrator>[Audience cheers] <v Narrator>Magic, metamorphosis at his peak, Houdini was one of the <v Narrator>world's most highly paid entertainers, he earned thousands a week and tens <v Narrator>of thousands in a week saw him perform. <v Narrator>Houdini was born Erik Weisz in 1874. <v Narrator>Son of a poor immigrant rabbi. <v Narrator>The family was often shackled with money woes, and when Erik was still a child, they left <v Narrator>Appleton. The first of many moves. <v Narrator>Metamorphosis, to change. <v Narrator>Young Erik had always dabbled with magic. <v Narrator>But things changed when he chanced upon the biography of a glamours French illusionist, <v Narrator>Robert Houdin, magic became a means of escape

<v Narrator>from the commonplace, the conventional. <v Narrator>Erik added an I to Houdin and took the name of his idol at the age of 17. <v Narrator>He left his job as a cutter in a New York City necktie factory to fashion a <v Narrator>new career as Harry Houdini, magician, king of cards. <v Narrator>Houdini's own history would have a similar impact on Sidney Radner of Holyoke, <v Narrator>Massachusetts, here surrounded by his collection of Magic and Houdini memorabilia. <v Sidney Radner>You know, when I was keep in mind as a youngster, I read the biography in one clip <v Sidney Radner>and I was hooked. He was just the greatest thing on Earth, he was the <v Sidney Radner>hero of heroes. <v Narrator>Caught by the spell Radner became a magician. <v Narrator>And just like Houdini, Radner soon graduated from cards and became an ace escape <v Narrator>artist. He was a protege of Houdini's brother, Hardeen, also <v Narrator>in the business. <v Sidney Radner>They're very-

<v Narrator>Radner is one of the last surviving experts on Houdini. <v Sidney Radner>These are rather unusual locks that Houdini had this collection. <v Narrator>Radner inherited through Hardeen, the bulk of Houdini's hand-cuff collection. <v Sidney Radner>Some of these are obviously oh my god, they're huge. <v Narrator>Hundreds of hand cuffs, keys, and locks, items of release and confinement. <v Sidney Radner>This is a very, very, very first graphic that Houdini put together <v Sidney Radner>with his own notes and first clippings and so <v Sidney Radner>on. <v Narrator>And scrapbooks. [Radner says, "And it starts off-"] Full of photos and stories. <v Narrator>The links to Houdini's past that detail the life and often very hard times <v Narrator>of the Magicians' early days, days spent on the road with his wife Bess, performing <v Narrator>in dime circus acts and burlesque shows. <v Sidney Radner>This supposedly is the first story in which Houdini got any <v Sidney Radner>kind of publicity for getting out of handcuffs when he stopped <v Sidney Radner>it and literally challenged the chief of police to get out of handcuffs.

<v Sidney Radner>The reason for the stunt and the reason why he came up with it is because <v Sidney Radner>he was traveling with the AmErikan Gaiety show and they weren't doing too well. <v Sidney Radner>So to drum up some publicity. Houdini started to do this handcuff that <v Narrator>The handcuff bit, the challenge act. <v Narrator>It would become Houdini's signature. <v Narrator>During his travels, he would challenge the local police to do their best to hold him. <v Narrator>Houdini simply could not be held anywhere by anybody. <v Narrator>What began with handcuffs did not end there. <v Sidney Radner>He uh got out of all kinds of strange devices many times, never <v Sidney Radner>having seen them before. That is where the challenge is. <v Narrator>Leg irons, manacles, straightjackets, jail cells, packing cases. <v Narrator>A <v Narrator>U.S. government regulation mailbag, a man sized football, a man sized

<v Narrator>envelope, a man sized sausage skin, anything that could be closed and confined <v Narrator>Houdini took on. <v Narrator>He accepted challenges from carpenters, lunatic asylum attendants, submariners, <v Narrator>suffragettes. <v Sidney Radner>This is what made Houdini, Houdini. <v Narrator>These challenges required not only an impressive knowledge of locks and picks, <v Narrator>but also a certain amount of sheer bravado, something that Houdini had in abundance. <v Narrator>This success was not an easy thing to capture. <v Narrator>Early in their career business was so bad for the couple that Houdini nearly took a <v Narrator>9 to 5 job with the Yale Lock Company. <v Narrator>He needed a break. So in 1900, he took on what would be his biggest <v Narrator>challenge. <v Narrator>At age 26, with $50 in his pocket and not a single booking to his name, <v Narrator>Houdini set sail for Europe. <v Narrator>There the master of manacles confounded Scotland Yard

<v Narrator>and Houdini was a hit. <v Narrator>His reputation secured in England, France, Germany, Russia. <v Narrator>His success in Europe made Houdini an instant headliner at home, the <v Narrator>days of hardship were over for the couple. <v Narrator>For the next 25 years, Houdini captivated the press and the public. <v Narrator>He became so synonymous with wonder that to Houdini eyes would become a word. <v Narrator>It would capture an entry in the dictionary. <v Narrator>Houdini was a superb athlete, small only 5 ft 5", but extremely <v Narrator>strong. Young Erik Weisz had tried out for the Olympic swimming and diving teams, <v Narrator>and even at age 50, Houdini could still hold his breath underwater for up to four <v Narrator>minutes at a time. <v Marie Blood>Now, that's Niagara Falls. When he did the Man from Beyond that-the best of <v Marie Blood>Houdini- <v Narrator>Marie Blood, Houdini's niece here shown visiting the magician on a movie set, <v Narrator>recalls visiting the Houdini household as a young girl.

<v Marie Blood>But nonetheless, one that actually lived with him in his home. <v Marie Blood>I'm the last one alive. I would knock on the door and they'd say "Come in Marie" <v Marie Blood>and I go in and I jump in bed with them. <v Marie Blood>And he would you know, he would hold me and hug me. <v Marie Blood>And then he would pinch me with his toes. <v Marie Blood>He could work his toes the way you work your fingers. <v Narrator>Yet magic is as much manipulation of the mind as it is manipulation of fingers <v Narrator>or toes. One of the top in the current crop of magicians, Harry Blackstone, <v Narrator>on Houdini. <v Harry Blackstone>His ability to communicate with the audience was unsurpassed, it was wonderful. <v Harry Blackstone>And they remember that, and the people felt that when they saw him perform, they saw

<v Harry Blackstone>a true miracle. <v Narrator>Miracles, of course, should be difficult to do. <v Narrator>Early in his career, Houdini hit upon this important secret, make it look hard, <v Narrator>even if it isn't. <v Harry Blackstone>Following his escape from the milk can, which was done inside of an enclosure <v Harry Blackstone>that one of his assistants came over to the enclosure where Houdini-Houdini <v Harry Blackstone>had long before escaped, but hadn't presented himself to the audience and said Harry, <v Harry Blackstone>you're reading the newspaper in there, I can hear you turning the pages, do it more <v Harry Blackstone>quietly. And Houdini's remark was tell the orchestra to play louder. <v Harry Blackstone>So apparently when he finished reading his newspaper, he would then take some of the <v Harry Blackstone>water and throw it on himself and come out and go through the grand act of <v Harry Blackstone>having just-just barely made it out. <v Narrator>Some claim that as a magician, Houdini was only average. <v Narrator>No one doubts that as a showman, he was an unsurpassed genius. <v Sidney Radner>Houdini was, in my opinion, one of the true greatest <v Sidney Radner>showman in American history.

<v Sidney Radner>The other being P.T. Barnum. <v Sidney Radner>I don't think that any other person before or after are equal to two, but there's no <v Sidney Radner>question Houdini was Houdini and Houdini spent a lifetime <v Sidney Radner>making sure that his name was in the paper bigger and better than someone else's. <v Sidney Radner>Everything you did was with a-with press in mind. <v Narrator>When others took on handcuffs, he jumped off bridges. <v Narrator>When others copied his milk can escape, he created the Chinese water torture cell. <v Narrator>Houdini was keenly aware of his competition and kept scores of scrapbooks on other <v Narrator>magicians. Blackstone's father, Harry Blackstone Sr, was one of the top magicians <v Narrator>of Houdini's era and one of Houdini's most bitter rivals. <v Harry Blackstone>For instance, there were items on Houdini's performance contract that he always used, <v Harry Blackstone>and it said that neither Blackstone <v Harry Blackstone>nor Thurston could work any theater that the great Houdini worked <v Harry Blackstone>for 30 days before or 30 days after. <v Harry Blackstone>As he gained more confidence, that became three months before and three months after.

<v Harry Blackstone>He hated competition. <v Harry Blackstone>Consider the case of the packing case, and he brought my dad up on charges of having <v Harry Blackstone>stole his idea of the underwater box escape. <v Harry Blackstone>Well, interestingly enough, my father had newspaper clippings that pre-dated Houdini's <v Harry Blackstone>attempts at doing this. <v Harry Blackstone>And Houdini said, well, if you really did it, show me the box that you <v Harry Blackstone>escaped from. And my dad said, yes, it's over in the warehouse. <v Harry Blackstone>This was when they were both in New York City. <v Harry Blackstone>They went over to the warehouse. And lo and behold, that box, that trunk that my father <v Harry Blackstone>had been using for many, many years was gone, never to be seen again <v Harry Blackstone>until in 1928, two years after Houdini's death, <v Harry Blackstone>the great Joe Dunninger, the mentalist and collector of magic memorabilia, went <v Harry Blackstone>to Houdini's home in uptown in New York City <v Harry Blackstone>and said to Beatrice, I want some of the material that Houdini had, <v Harry Blackstone>some of the memorabilia to put into my collection and to purchase it.

<v Harry Blackstone>And Bess said, sure, go ahead, whatever you want. <v Harry Blackstone>And he says, well, all of these books and papers and things, I need to carry them home. <v Harry Blackstone>She says, well, a bunch of boxes and things down in the basement. <v Harry Blackstone>He went down there. Here was this lovely trunk and he said, Bess could I have this? <v Harry Blackstone>She said, sure, take it. So he grabs it by the handle and starting to bounce it up. <v Harry Blackstone>The steps and the trap door which was used in this thing, fell open. <v Harry Blackstone>And inside of it on a small brass plaque, it said the property of Harry and Pete Buton, <v Harry Blackstone>my father and his brother's real name. <v Harry Blackstone>So that missing trunk somehow appeared in Houdini's basement. <v Harry Blackstone>And that's one of the great unsolved mysteries of magic. <v Narrator>Houdini did not always stick to magic to make his mark. <v Narrator>In 1910, he set out to conquer the skies above Australia. <v Narrator>He said about this feat, even if history forgets Houdini, the handcuff king. <v Narrator>It must write my name as the first man to fly here. <v Narrator>After several failures on March 16th, Houdini's fragile Voisin plane <v Narrator>inched skyward. The handcuff king broke free of the bonds of gravity

<v Narrator>and captured an entry in the record books. <v Sidney Radner>I think that most people have forgotten that. <v Sidney Radner>So Houdini was wrong, but they never forgot Houdini. <v Narrator>He was a man who could change with the times, metamorphosis. <v Narrator>When movies came in, Houdini plunged into a film career. <v Narrator>He battled Niagara Falls. <v Narrator>He battled nasty thugs. <v Narrator>And Houdini, of course, battled his way out of jails during his brief career on the <v Narrator>silver screen. <v Narrator>Yet Houdini could not beat back a different sort of pain. <v Narrator>All of his life Houdini was deeply devoted to his mother. <v Narrator>When she died, while Houdini was abroad on tour the magician was devastated.

<v Narrator>Letters to relatives bordered in black, spelled out his grief. <v Narrator>I can't seem to get over it. <v Narrator>Sometimes I feel all right, but when a calm moment arrives, I am as bad as ever. <v Narrator>My heart will always ache for our darling mother. <v Narrator>He longed to share some final words, and from this longing, began Houdini's foray <v Narrator>into spiritualism. <v Narrator>He made the acquaintance of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a tall, courtly English gentleman, <v Narrator>the creator of Sherlock Holmes and one of the world's most ardent believers in <v Narrator>spiritualism. <v Man>Oh, thou spirit your religion is based on <v Man>love and by that- <v Narrator>Through Doyle's auspices, Houdini attended hundreds of seances. <v Narrator>The magician knew all the tricks necessary to manufacture a message. <v Narrator>Yet his desire to communicate with his mother was so strong that he turned to <v Narrator>spiritualism. When it gave him no reply, he turned on it with a vengeance.

<v Sidney Radner>It looks entirely different than Houdini. <v Sidney Radner>But this is Houdini in disguise that he would typically make up and go <v Sidney Radner>and visit the medium and go and get information that led <v Sidney Radner>?via? mediums to the audience and debunk them right in the-right in the audience, <v Sidney Radner>and started to produce challenges for $10,000 to anyone who <v Sidney Radner>could do anything that he could not expose or could not duplicate and so <v Sidney Radner>forth. <v Narrator>With disguises and detective work, and absolute dedication. <v Narrator>Houdini took on the debunking of the spiritualists. <v Narrator>It was a typical Houdini performance. <v Narrator>But then he approached endeavor with an unabashed intensity. <v Narrator>Consider his literary collection. <v Narrator>Here at the Library of Congress rest the results of those efforts. <v Narrator>The bulk of Houdini's books on magic and spiritualism, all 4,000 <v Narrator>of them and over 100 scrapbooks stuffed with clippings. <v Narrator>Houdini, of course, had to have the biggest, the best collection in the world, and he

<v Narrator>succeeded. To be the best, that was what he wanted. <v Narrator>The recently retired curator of the Houdini collection, Leonard Beck. <v Leonard Beck>That's right, I'd say the best, all the time, all the time. <v Narrator>All this work had a purpose. <v Leonard Beck>It's well known that they made a practice of going to the graves of the dead magicians <v Leonard Beck>and making sure those graves were well taken care of, that <v Leonard Beck>it ?inaudible? a man trying to find roots for his <v Leonard Beck>art to justify, as perhaps almost to himself. <v Leonard Beck>Name of the word there is roots, and it is the seeds of the nothing like <v Leonard Beck>more than a man making pilgrimages to the graves of the saints, so to speak. <v Narrator>The man then became a saint, a kind of mountain, a Mount Everest for other magicians <v Narrator>to overcome. <v Harry Blackstone>Not a mountain. If anything, he's like the great wave that tends to keep <v Harry Blackstone>pushing us toward the shore. He has been the one who made magic <v Harry Blackstone>an acceptable variety medium.

<v Harry Blackstone>It is an acceptable art form. [Sounds of locks being unlocked and locked] <v Narrator>Driven by competition and his own curiosity. <v Narrator>Houdini constantly topped himself and made magic into something new. <v Narrator>Others pulled the rabbit from a hat. <v Narrator>Houdini made an elephant disappear. <v Narrator>Others swallowed fire. Houdini swallowed sewing needles and then pulled them from <v Narrator>his mouth threaded. <v Narrator>Others did dove acts, Houdini used an eagle. <v Narrator>The magician's inventiveness resulted in patents such as a diving suit and a constant <v Narrator>flow of new illusions. <v Narrator>He wanted to escape from a block of ice. <v Narrator>Tricky tried only in the movies, and he had plans to go over Niagara Falls <v Narrator>in a barrel, <v Narrator>he never made it. In October of 1926, Houdini began what <v Narrator>he described as his farewell tour.

<v Narrator>Early on, he broke his foot in the Chinese water torture cell. <v Narrator>Then in Montreal, he had an unusual encounter backstage. <v Narrator>Sidney Radner. <v Sidney Radner>Some students came back and one of the students asked him if it was true, they heard <v Sidney Radner>stories about his physique and so on and said asked him if it was true, if he could take <v Sidney Radner>a blow on the stomach. Houdini said, yes, he was really hale, and the student asked him <v Sidney Radner>if he could test him and Houdini said yes. <v Sidney Radner>This student gave him a good wallop and Houdini said no, that way <v Sidney Radner>gotta be ready. Let me know I wasn't ready. And he said, alright, now try it. <v Sidney Radner>So he ?inaudible?, and then hit him again. <v Sidney Radner>Houdini felt pains that night and felt that it was just muscle strains <v Sidney Radner>and so on, and continued with the show. <v Narrator>Houdini's superb physique was no match for the first unexpected blow. <v Narrator>It ruptured his appendix and peritonitis set in. <v Narrator>The doctors gave him less than 12 hours to live. <v Narrator>But Houdini hung on for over a week. <v Narrator>He died early in the morning on Oct.

<v Narrator>31st, Halloween. <v Marie Blood>I remember going outside. <v Marie Blood>I had heard my parents talk about that he was in the hospital. <v Marie Blood>I don't think they knew the extent of how sick he was. <v Marie Blood>And then all of a sudden we heard on the street the extras say years ago they used to do <v Marie Blood>that. And I ran in the house and I said to my mother, they're outside. <v Marie Blood>They're yelling, "Extra, Houdini dying." <v Narrator>Houdini was buried with a pillow of letters from his mother under his head and over <v Narrator>his grave. The American Society of Magicians broke a magic wand. <v Narrator>If the memory of this magician has not dimmed amid the waves of neon in <v Narrator>downtown Niagara Falls, Canada, one can pick out the lights of an unusual <v Narrator>museum. The Houdini Hall of Fame. <v Museum Speaker>This museum is being called the shrine dedicated to my memory, contains the only <v Museum Speaker>display of Houdini equipment and memorabilia in the world

<v Museum Speaker>after all- <v Narrator>It's flashy and theatrical and visited by thousands of tourists, Houdini <v Narrator>would love it. Henry Mueller, owner of the Houdini Hall of Fame, describes one <v Narrator>of the exhibits. <v Henry Mueller>And in this envelope is an original letter from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle <v Henry Mueller>to Houdini, where Houdini took ten words in that <v Henry Mueller>letter and circled the ten words. <v Henry Mueller>Then he wrote ten code words, which I have in my pocket. <v Henry Mueller>And the combination of those 20 words, the ten words circled and the ten words in my <v Henry Mueller>pocket make up the secret message which will come back if <v Henry Mueller>Houdini comes back. Houdini believed that if anybody could come back after <v Henry Mueller>death, it would be he. <v Sidney Radner>And this was the particular pair that Theodore Hardeen told me that <v Sidney Radner>Hardeen that Houdini said he would open up if he came back in a physical way. <v Sidney Radner>This has appeared on numerous séances and the center of the séance table. <v Narrator>Special handcuffs and special codes.

<v Narrator>Houdini may have scorned the spiritualists, but to his wife, he left a secret message <v Narrator>that would spell out her pet name, Rosabelle. <v Narrator>And the word believe if he returned, scores of séances later <v Narrator>and Houdini's silence has been his final victory over the spiritualists. <v Narrator>Yet other mysteries remain. <v Sidney Radner>These here were devices that Houdini use while he was in Germany, believe it or not, <v Sidney Radner>to open many of the German locks. <v Sidney Radner>Now, of course, people say, well, how could he could conceal um, well, I thought he <v Sidney Radner>did it very well. <v Narrator>The answers to some of Houdini's tricks were sometimes glaringly simple. <v Sidney Radner>If he said put this pair of handcuffs on there and then he would control which one <v Sidney Radner>was on first, second, third and fourth. This was important because if he-if he had <v Sidney Radner>examined the handcuffs and he found out that one might be very, very difficult <v Sidney Radner>and might be a problem. The trick there is to get it way up here to get 7 <v Sidney Radner>or 8 pairs of handcuffs on him and then get the ones that are difficult up here. <v Sidney Radner>So when you took off the first 5 or 6, the 7th could be slipped.

<v Narrator>Other solutions take some detective work, such as the search for a mystery man, <v Narrator>Jim Collins, seen here and there in Houdini's photos. <v Sidney Radner>Collins was Houdini's chief assistant for many, many years, <v Sidney Radner>and uh a magic show of any kind depends very much <v Sidney Radner>on a chief key assistant. <v Sidney Radner>He is all important in the ways that I can't begin to tell you without exposing tricks. <v Narrator>Sometimes the trick lay in a lump of clay. <v Sidney Radner>And what he would do is during the course of checking to see if handcuffs <v Sidney Radner>were working right. Well, locks were working right, he palmed this in his hands <v Sidney Radner>and got two impressions. One this way and <v Sidney Radner>one ?inwise? <v Sidney Radner>with those, his crew, his assistants could anticipate and get <v Sidney Radner>among the collection a lock pick that would be suitable for him to use on that particular <v Sidney Radner>lock or handcuffs.

<v Narrator>Or did his wife simply hand him a key hidden in a handshake? <v Narrator>The mechanics of magic can be easy to grasp or purchase. <v Narrator>Houdini himself bought his famous illusion of walking through a brick wall from another <v Narrator>magician. Tricks are easily obtainable, but tricks explain only part <v Narrator>of Houdini's mystery. After his death, Bess wrote these words about her husband. <v Narrator>"He buried no secrets. Every conjurer knows how his tricks were done, <v Narrator>with the exception of just where or how the various traps or mechanisms were hidden. <v Narrator>It was Houdini himself that was the secret." [Music plays] <v Leonard Beck>What makes greatness, dominance over the others in your field? <v Leonard Beck>Close the gap between what you are and what you could've been, and he really made <v Leonard Beck>something out of himself, didn't he? <v Leonard Beck>Maybe that's greatness. <v Harry Blackstone>He was of an era in which he personified what the great hordes

<v Harry Blackstone>of Europeans who came to the United States to escape the political problems that were <v Harry Blackstone>in Europe, that he was the personification of the great escape. <v Doug Henning>Magic teaches this very important lesson about life, and that's that nothing is <v Doug Henning>impossible. Nothing's impossible. <v Harry Blackstone>We can escape from the earthly and imaginary bonds that we create for ourselves. <v Harry Blackstone>That's more what Houdini did. <v Narrator>Most of us live lives that are often contained and cautious. <v Narrator>We keep our dreams locked away, our eyes closed to possibility. <v Narrator>Houdini caught our heart by breaking free from poverty, gravity, from <v Narrator>bonds of steel and iron. <v Narrator>Houdini, he made himself a living by escaping from locks and chains. <v Narrator>He made himself a legend by showing us the limits of any kind are illusions.